When the planning goes into a winter wedding, the bridge and groom no doubt hope and pray there will be snow on the ground and a nip in the air.
But Karen Rawlins and Jonathan Lee could have done without the heavy snowfall last night because it nearly derailed their nuptials.
They couple had planned to tied the knot this afternoon in the picturesque, 900-year-old Dode Church near Meopham in Kent.
But when they woke up this morning, Miss Rawlins, 42, was in floods of tears because she thought they were going to have to call off the ceremony.
Kent was one of the worst hit counties overnight, with heavy snow and ice causing road closures and paralysing transport links.
The couple, who live near Dartford, were on the brink of cancelling because the snow meant they and their guests would never make it to the remote church.
But their day was saved by a radio appeal which prompted a string of kind-hearted listeners to offer their 4x4s to transport the 45 guests to the service.
Miss Rawlins said: ‘We have been swamped, inundated with offers of help. It now looks like the wedding can go ahead. I’m stunned and amazed by their generosity.
‘Yesterday evening we envisaged that the wedding would be off. We got up this morning looked outside and decided “that’s it – there’s no way this can go ahead”.’
She was ‘devastated’ at that moment, she said, but had decided to put a brave face on it and reorganise everything with fiancé Jonathan Lee, 35.
It was her sister, Tracey Spellman’s idea, to try a last-ditch bid to salvage the day by appealing on BBC Radio Kent.
Mrs Spellman said: ‘When we woke up this morning, my sister said: “That’s it the wedding’s off” and we said: “No, how about we try the radio”.
‘The main problem was transport just to get us there and the response has been fantastic. We’ve got plenty of cars, the registrar is getting a lift, the wedding dress had been brought to the hotel.
‘She’s partly changed the venue; it’s cost them a lot of money, around £4,000. If she’s lost the reception in the village so be it, but we just wanted her to get married today.’
She added: ‘We’re hoping these kind people will wait while we have the ceremony and then move to the pub in the evening. We’d arranged a minibus, but obviously that wouldn’t get up a very tiny road in snow. We had to cancel that. We got plenty of people bringing their four wheel drives up to us. They’ve all been amazing.’
The couple have been forced to change the reception venue to a pub in Cobham, at an extra cost of £4,000, because there is a risk of further heavy snow later today.
Mary Chapman, who owns the former church at Dode with her husband Doug, said that initially Miss Rawlins had been excited about the snow.
‘I spoke to Karen last night. She was quite excited that they might have a white wedding. The registrars are trying to organise four wheel drives, so fingers crossed,’ she said.
No Comments on this post